I wasn't even looking for this. I just went to the ISAF website to see whether the grossly underreported weekend murders of two American soldiers (and shootings of four others) by an Afghan security contractor -- again -- was considered newsy enough to post by the official powers that be. "The slayings bring to nine the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed by rogue Afghan security force members, whether uniformed or private security contractors, in the past two months," NBC reports. 

Nine? In the last two months? That whizzed by totally unaccounted for. Did any democratically elected officials even think to ask Gen. Petraeus about it?

I still don't know if ISAF tallied up these latest bodies in a public count. That's because the first item to present itself to a viewer of the ISAF site is this picture (above) with the caption: "Religious Importance of the Qur'an." As a well-known sucker for the religious importance of the "Qur'an" -- I prefer "Ko-ran," with Texas inflection -- I just had to click and see.

The caption tells us so-and-so holds his prayers beads during a March 2010 ribbon-cutting ceremony on an electrification project in the Farah Distriction, quoting Mr. So-and-So as saying: "If we have electricity ... we can turn on our lights, and read the Koran.”

What comment is appropriate here? "The jaw drops"? "The universe spins"? We must go beyond shock to assess the advanced state of psycho-masochism the US military has now attained under the suicidal ideology of COIN, a belief system of unparralleled arrogance that actually believes that a cockamamie scheme of sticks and carrots, at a staggering cost of blood (limbs, skull shards) and unrecoverable treasure, is adequate to remake Muslim Man in Petraeus's Image.

But the joke is on the COINsters. For what is happening is that it is they who are remaking themselves. In seeking to win Islamic hearts and minds, a lynchpin of the non-military, social-work basis of the COIN strategy, they have themselves become de facto followers of Islamic law, and they are spreading it to our troops.

This is the ISAF site tells us. To wit:

"Download Religious Importance of the Qu'ran" the ISAF commands.

So I did. Up pops COIN Advisory # 20100924-001 (I'm not kidding).This perfectly rancid sop to "Cultural Sensitivity" (the non-ironic title) is something for US troops to gag themselves with. Literally. "Never talk badly about the Qur'an or its contents." #2 "recommendation" says, a no-nonsense formulation of Islamic prohibitions against criticising Islam.

Remember, this COIN Advisory is attached to the very first item ISAF displays, hoisted like a flag of dhimmitude to denote ISAF's adoption of Islamic law (sharia), illustrated with a year-old picture of Mr. Prayer Beads exulting over having received the technology of Thomas Alva Edison to read the Koran. 

But if illuminating the Koran is perfectly okay for infidels to do, touching the thing is not. Why? "It is considered culturally insensitive for any non-Muslim to touch a copy of the Qur'an," ISAF explains. Why that it is indeed the Islamic case, ISAF doesn't mention. Perhaps it would upset still-not-completely dhimmified troops to learn that this injunction exists because Muslims consider non-Muslim "najis," or unclean, and thus unfit to touch their religious book. We must appreciate the implications: Having accepted this basic supremacist divide, ISAF has also accepted dhimmitude, the cultural condition of all non-Muslim subjects of sharia, and it is imposing it on our troops.

Of course, there's more:

Additionally, verbal disrespect for Islam and/or the Qur'an us considered as inappropriate as physical desecration of the Qur'an. Insulting the Qur'an is an act of blasphemy.

The way Islam treats women stinks = verbal disrespect for Islam. The verses of the Qur'an that call for jihad against infidels are heinous = insulting the Qur'an. Tut, tut: ISAF, veritable mouthpiece of the coming caliphate, deems such talk "inappropriate" and "blasphemy" -- which just might win them an extra pillow at the foot of the caliph's throne.

Furthermore:

Muslims believe they have an inherest duty to stand up to injustices committed against Islam and the Qur'an. Therefore, they take any perceived disrespect to Islam and/or the Qur'an extremely seriously....

Therefore, so does ISAF, which recommends:

1. Do NOT handle Qur'ans or other Islamic relgious items. (CAPS in the original.)

2. Never talk badly about the Qur'an or its contents.

3. If you must search a location or person's belongings, ask them if they have a Qur'an or religious item present. If so, ask them to remove it or put it in a suitable place before conducting the search.

4. Your level of sensitivity must be even greater when conducting canine searches. [Dogs are also "najis."] Having an animal anywhere near a Qur''an or other religious artifact is considered highly disrespectful.

5. If you have questions about the Qur'an or Islam, ask respectfully.

6. Be informed and be prepared to answer questions about alleged desecration of the Qur'an.

This kind of thing has been going on a long time -- too long. It's past time to perk up and notice that our adopting the ways of Islam is in fact the objective of jihad.